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Pokémon Community Thread 4: "Your Portal to What's Hip and Happening in Sinnoh!"

T

TurtleSnatcher

Member
So I bought Sapphire and I'm getting back into Pokemon for the first time in forever. I technically own X but only played about 1.5 hours.

I do have questions that I'm hoping people can help out with.

I just unlocked the ability to do "Super Training" and went through the tutorial stuff and did all of the first level training on my starter. It's not super fun as I'm not a big fan of mini game type of things but am I required to do this?

I decided to Google it and apparently if you want to have a competitive Pokemon, you want to EV train them. I don't even understand EV training and reading a few wiki articles is confusing. Can anyone explain how this works? Do I need to do this now or can I do this after I beat the game and train up a group? I really want to start learning up on some competitive play so hoping I can get a better understanding of what I should be doing.

Likewise, is the mood of your Pokemon a factor and do Shinys provide a boost in competitive play? Oddly enough my Froakie is a Shiny on my first playthrough of X (the 1.5 hour save) so I can bring him over.

Sorry for all the newbie questions. Thanks for any help!
 
Fix-It Felix. Jr.

Fix-It Felix. Jr.

Member
The easiest way to gain EV will be horde battles. Super Training would be the long route, but the Reset Bag is useful if you want to start EV training a pokemon that already has established some EV prior to you obtaining it.

The reason people usually opt to train through horde battles is because defeating a particular Pokemon will reward you with a certain EV. For example, defeating one Nincada (without Pokerus or power items) will give your pokemon 1 Defense EV. Once your Pokemon gains 4 EVs in a certain category, it will gain 1 point in that stat. So, defeating four Nincada's would give you 4 EVs that turn into +1 defense point. That being said, Pokemon can only have 510 EVs in total, with no more than 252 per stat. That means you should probably focus on two stats, and then use the remaining points to boost a third.

Serebii has a full list of all the horde battles in Sapphire, along with the EVs earned. You'll want to have an Oddish with Sweet Scent to lure them out, and the pokemon you are training should have at least one move that will hit the entire horde. (ie. Surf)

You're probably better off doing your training after you've beat the game, since the power items available at the Battle Resort (post-game island) will greatly help you achieve success at a faster rate.

Shiny is completely cosmetic. It doesn't give you any sort of competitive edge.

Nature will come into effect, since it increases and decreases certain stats.Again, I'll redirect you to Serebii for a list of what each nature does. You'll want to have a Pokemon with a nature that enhances the stat you are most focused on, but won't interfere with the other two. I don't think Nature has a big enough impact to really make or break a Pokemon, but since you want to get into competitive battles, it certainly won't hurt to have the right pairing.

For now, just play the game and enjoy the experience. Once you've completed the game and have access to all locations and stores, including the Daycare with an easy hatching path, you can start to work towards building your competitive team. Do plenty of research to familiarize yourself with the different rules, tiers, and terms that are used in competitive play. Smogen provides apprentice programs for people interested in joining their competitive scene, if that interests you.

I personally don't play competitively, so I'm sorry if these answers fall a little flat. Basically, EVs are a way to boost HP/Attack/Defense/Sp. Attack/Sp. Defense/Speed. Training your Pokemon through EVs will make them more powerful than they would be if they only had the regular base stats. Knowing what makes each Pokemon powerful is the key. In a regular playthrough you can get away with just having a Pokemon with strong ATK that will one-hit KO; but in the competitive scene, sometimes it's better for your pokemon to be able to take hits than constantly deliver them. That's when strategic training will become important.
 
P

PreyingShark

Member
Oh yeah I still need to give you Ditto

@Other guy: Don't worry about EVs and shit when playing through the main game. Just chill, have fun, and try to get as many TMs as you can. Also work on the level of your catching, hatching, and experience O-powers.
 
Fix-It Felix. Jr.

Fix-It Felix. Jr.

Member
Wiseblade said:
It should be stated that you don't need to think about ANY of this stuff if you're just going through the main game.
Click to expand...
Definitely not. Like I said in my post, he should play through the game fully first and just enjoy the experience, especially since it's been a while since he's picked up a pokemon game. You can totally get away with beating the game just through regular leveling up and exp share. It won't be until the post-game when he'll need to EV train if he's serious about playing competitively.
 
T

TurtleSnatcher

Member
Thanks Felix! Great info and super helpful. Slightly relieved I can play through the game and do the competitive stuff afterwards and not screw myself over. Thanks
 
P

PreyingShark

Member
Wiseblade said:
Really? I don't think I've ever had an issue with Wattson in any Hoenn game. IIRC, isn't most of his stuff pretty frail?
Click to expand...
Magneton be like "Fuck you Grovyle boi"

I just now ended up just using the Daycare to quickly level up a Geodude to 20. Pretty much trivialized the fight.

It's a much easier fight in ORAS because you have more options because your movesets aren't a piece of shit, Rock Smash can actually do *some* damage, and dark-type attacks do neutral damage. Also you don't have to deal with a Manectric after you off the Magneton, which is what got me on my first attempt.
 
W

Wiseblade

Member
PreyingShark said:
Magneton be like "Fuck you Grovyle boi"

I just now ended up just using the Daycare to quickly level up a Geodude to 20. Pretty much trivialized the fight.

It's a much easier fight in ORAS because you have more options because your movesets aren't a piece of shit, Rock Smash can actually do *some* damage, and dark-type attacks do neutral damage. Also you don't have to deal with a Manectric after you off the Magneton, which is what got me on my first attempt.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that explains it. I've only ever chosen Torchic or Mudkip, making Magneton a non-issue.
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
Finally close to catching all the legendaries in oras, it's actually been really fun to have so many to encounter. Dat gen 2 trio music caught me
 
P

PreyingShark

Member
Would blocking someone on a Pokémon discord I just joined like an hour or two ago make me a dick?

Because there's this guy who's already getting on my nerves for some reason. Like I don't even know why. He's not insulting me or anything. He's just annoying me without even trying to. So I want to block him but I'm not sure if that'd be a nice thing to do. Because he's innocent, just really annoying somehow.
 
W

Wiseblade

Member
PreyingShark said:
Would blocking someone on a Pokémon discord I just joined like an hour or two ago make me a dick?

Because there's this guy who's already getting on my nerves for some reason. Like I don't even know why. He's not insulting me or anything. He's just annoying me without even trying to. So I want to block him but I'm not sure if that'd be a nice thing to do. Because he's innocent, just really annoying somehow.
Click to expand...
Block away, why would you care about being nice?
 
RomanceDawn

RomanceDawn

Member
PreyingShark said:
He talks like he has it really rough so I kinda feel bad for him.
Click to expand...

The guy reaches out to you for support and here you are ready to spit in his face. Misery misery misery.

I say just block him. We all got our own ship to deal with and don't need to be dragged down by anyone elses.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
What is broken about Pokémon TCG Online?

I like Hearthstone too. But those are the only two games I'm playing online. I thought Magic: The Gathering weren't good as a digital game?
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Crap, I don't think they have made a villain team this destructive! Usually they never affect the cities when they do their shit, like I remember Magma and Aqua in the sea, and Galactic on the ruins, and lol Plasma, but damn we see Flare rupturing Lumiose. We actually see evacuation!

And they're pulling a game BW by making the gym leaders have cameos when Lysandre announces his ambition for a beautiful world.

1472120509775.jpg
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Wiseblade said:
Not for like another 100 pages.

Pokémon is like the card game I have the least interest in.

Yu-gi-oh
Magic: The Gathering
Cardfight Vanguard
Hearthstone
Pokémon

From what I remember, it's as broken as Yu-gi-oh while being as slow as Magic.
Click to expand...

That is not how I would describe Pokemon TCG. How is a game where players expect almost every card in their 60 card deck available to them at basically every turn of the game considered slow? Also definitely not as broken as YGO.

I know a lot of people who switched to Pokemon from YGO and they all have the same things to say: Yu-Gi-Oh is a worse game with worse community, worse prices, and worse prizes than Pokemon.
 
P

PreyingShark

Member
Back when I played TCG I expected to have my Eelektrik engine set up on turn 2 the vast majority of the time and turn 3 at the latest. A turn 2 Zekrom wasn't that rare. Pokémon isn't slow unless you're using a slow deck.

I will admit that on my first or second turn I often spent more time shuffling than actually playing though.
 
Q

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
Firestorm said:
That is not how I would describe Pokemon TCG. How is a game where players expect almost every card in their 60 card deck available to them at basically every turn of the game considered slow? Also definitely not as broken as YGO.

I know a lot of people who switched to Pokemon from YGO and they all have the same things to say: Yu-Gi-Oh is a worse game with worse community, worse prices, and worse prizes than Pokemon.
Click to expand...

Well yeah every game of pokemon gets you 6 prizes
 
W

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
When I was a kid at least the Energy mechanic was such a bore to like everyone I knew, when Yu-Gi-Oh came around and you could play shit right from your hand and fill your deck entirely with monsters and still be able to do something (poorly perhaps...), everyone jumped ship pretty fast.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Wait, is that figure thing which you can scan through your 3DS via amiibo reader thus giving you perfect EV Pokemon true?!

EDIT: Ah Serebii has info, looks like I mixed some

Some distributions have been announced for Pokémon Sun & Moon in Japan. First, with the Pokémon Sun & Moon World's Fastest Capture Guide on November 28th, it will come with a special QR Code which will allow for you to easily find where Togedemaru is in the wild. It also confirmed that the special Monecolle GET figures will come with QR Codes that will let you easily find the Pokémon in the wild. Secondly, with the Pokémon Sun & Moon Official Guide Book, it has been confirmed that you will receive a serial code for a Gold Bottle Cap and confirms that the Gold Bottle Caps will boost the IVs to maximum. We'll bring more as they come
Click to expand...
 
M

Mr-Joker

Banned
So there's a pop up Insert Coin / Pokémon shop in London open from today till the 30th of August.

Now I would have gone had I been given this info in advance and not today. ¬_¬;

Also I watched the start of Team Flare arc, though the subs were awful as they have clearly been run through Google translate.

The plot seem interested but just makes me wish that we got "Pokémon Z" so I can experience this myself than the lame attempt that we got in X and Y.

Though it does make me wonder how will Zygarde tie in with Solgaleo, Lunala, Lillie, Team Skull and the Alola lore in Sun and Moon.

Plus we have no idea if Solgaleo and Lunala are a duo or a trio and if they are a trio will the third legendary get a its own game or will get skipped over in favour for gen 8.
 
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